Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has the following tropes:

These films provide examples of:

  • The Danza: Borderline example, Michelan Sisti wore the Michelangelo costume.
  • Doing It for the Art: Why Jim Henson agreed to help on a independent film about some cartoon based on a comic book (remember, this was before big-budget adaptations of such things were common). He knew full well that to do it right he would basically have to invent new animatronic technology, and he did it so well that it became the basis of what the industry standards for animatronics are today.
  • ~Hey, It's That Guy!~:
  • ~Hey, It's That Voice!~:
  • The Other Darrin: Paige Turco replaced Judith Hoag as April for the second and third movies. Corey Feldman provided the voice of Donny only for the first and third movies as, during production of the second, he was battling drug addiction and had to get life back on track.
  • Throw It In: In the second movie, with cooking up the anti-mutagen, three of the Turtles inspect the pot of anti-mutagen, which Donatello is stirring. Each passes by and says something, but when Michelangelo stops by, holding a slice of pizza, the smell is apparently bad enough that Michelangelo accidentally lets go of his pizza, which promptly falls right into the pot of anti-mutagen. This is very evident, as Donatello, Michelangelo, and Keno all gasp, look around frantically, and Michelangelo looks at straight at the camera, before walking off and humming happily.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • In the original draft of the second movie, the ending would've revealed that Professor Perry was actually an Utrom.
      • There's a little bit of this left in the film though, as Perry immediately recognizes what happened to the Turtles upon first meeting them and even describes the very accident that led to them coming in contact with the ooze down to the year. Plus there are his lines "Sometimes the best way to hide is right out in public," and "You're the last one, aren't you?"
      • The reason this ending was cut out because this would confuse him with Krang.
      • This Troper still doesn't see how that would've been a bad thing.
      • Professor Perry becomes a more interesting character with this in mind.
      • April mentions in her news report that the company mysteriously disappeared. Which suggests that they have returned to their home planet.
      • If you pay attention, during the two scenes at T.G.R.I., there appears to be a large rock-like object encased in glass with numerous computers plugged into it.
    • Bebop and Rocksteady were originally going to appear before being replaced with Tokka and Razhar.
    • In the first film, Tatsu brutally beats a young Foot ninja named Shinsho due to the Foot Clan's failure. Originally, Shinsho was intended to die, but that scene was cut since it was considered too violent for some. The dialogue was replaced with the kid comforting him saying "you'll be alright," to show Tatsu only injured him.
      • Strangely, in the junior novelization that was done of the movie, Shinsho was shown as being killed by Tatsu. Having rewatched the movie recently, this troper is rather surprised this turned out to be the case.
      • Oddly enough, this troper always assumed the kid did die off-camera, and the "you'll be all right" was supposed to be hollow comfort. It was a surprise to find out later about the intended cover-up.
      • In the French version of the movie, Shinsho does die. I am pretty sure he does too in the UK version, but I would have to check.
    • There are also numerous deleted scenes (mostly on the farm) that give the four turtles much more Character Development, expanding on April and Casey's romance, and would put later scenes into a different context (April and Casey's reaction to Mikey's "turtle wax" joke was originally one of relief after he goes through a severe Heroic BSOD).
    • The original ending had April quitting her reporter's job in order to pitch the story of their adventures to a comic book company while the Turtles listen in outside the window. When the editor rejects her idea as being too unrealistic Mikey falls off the building.
    • Had the third movie not bombed, the fourth movie would have been about the Turtles and Splinter furthering their mutation. One of the most notable being Mikey taking a more human-like appearance, allowing him to go to the surface.